Virginia Stage will open its 1998-99 season with Travels with My Aunt, Giles Havergal's adaptation of Graham Greene's book about a meek Englishman and his unconventional Aunt Augusta. The play will be done as a co-production with Syracuse Stage and begin performances Sept. 20 for a Sept. 24 opening and a run through Oct. 11.
Highlighting Virginia Stage's season will be a new play by New York-based playwright Lanie Robertson, whose Nasty Little Secrets recently had a run Off-Broadway at Primary Stages. The new work, Nobody Lonesome for Me, has legendary country-western singer stranded at a gas station in West Virginia, where he regales the station owner with songs and stories of his life. The play's title comes from a Williams standard. The production will run Oct. 25-Nov. 15.
Robertson has been an artistic associate of Virginia Stage for three years. The company has staged three other Robertson works, A Penny for the Guy, Alfred Stieglitz Loves O'Keefe, and Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill. No casting or director has been announced for Nobody Lonesome for Me.
Following a seasonal run of Dickens' A Christmas Carol, the theatre will present one of the first regional productions of Martin McDonagh's The Beauty Queen of Leenane (Jan. 17-Feb. 7, 1999). The Irish drama is currently playing on Broadway at the Walter Kerr Theatre.
The season continues with Falsettos (Feb. 21-Mar. 14, 1999), William Finn's musical about modern relationships, both straight and gay. Finn's new work, A New Brain, recently opened at Lincoln Center. The Virginia season concludes with Oscar Wilde's classic comedy The Importance of Being Earnest (Apr. 4-25). For information on any of these offerings, call (757) 627-1234. -- By Robert Simonson